Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the trade that brought Dion Phaneuf to Toronto. It was a day met with glee and excitement around Leafs Nation. The Flames were immediately derided for trading a former Norris Trophy candidate at his lowest possible value for a package of cast-offs from the worst team in the Eastern Conference. However, the Flames haven’t exactly missed Phaneuf, but they haven’t really enjoyed the Matt Stajan era either.

But this isn’t a post trying to explain how the Leafs won the trade. It doesn’t really matter who won. Both teams got what they wanted. Calgary needed to save cap space and they did. Unfortunately, they didn’t spend their cap savings wisely, but that’s one reason Darryl Sutter is no longer employed as the team’s GM. Whereas in Toronto, Burke continued to makeover his roster, shipping out players inflicted with losers’ syndrome, while acquiring a young and talented (albeit flawed) player with the type of potential unavailable without the luxury of owning a first round pick.

This is a post examining what’s transpired over the course of a year. A post that will look to the future to see if this is still a deal that will help the Maple Leafs in the long-term. A year ago I said the only way this deal could fail is if the Leafs’ paired Schenn and Phaneuf, causing Pierre McGuire to masturbate on air. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way, but are the Leafs in a better place than they were a year ago? I think it would be hard to argue otherwise. But it hasn’t been pretty.